Workin' Weekend

September 14, 2026 by Adam in Family

Jo and I got a lot done over the weekend - cleaning up broken patio glass, painting, prepping for painting, making a new Little Free Library door, and diagnosing a weird noise in my Tesla.

The weird Tesla noise appears to be from a plastic aero shield on the underside which has partially fallen off.  The bolts that were supposed to be there are apparently missing, meaning a bump against the gravel can knock it down.  I've got some parts coming on Wednesday but might have to duct tape it if I have to go anywhere significant until then.

Jo fixed the library door after my bumbling from last weekend.  I apparently have the care and diligence of a software engineer where it's easy to throw things out and try again.  The end result will be somewhat smaller, but Jo was way more careful than I was and it mostly fits together now.

I painted around our bathroom where water splashed during the toilet replacement project.  I also caulked around the toilet, so we can cross that off the list.  The kitchen had some major cleaning of years-old grease stains on the ceiling and the windows and a door are getting prepped for painting.

I also managed some playing in there - my agents keep building scifi games and I'm playing through the second of the Plague Tale games.  I still need to get out of the house and wonder around in nature more.

Wayfarer

September 14, 2026 by Adam in Adam's Games

I've been on a scifi game building kick lately, inspired by the old Traveller games of my youth.  With the latest ai models, it seems it's possible to do things it couldn't do a week ago, especially around 3d animation and construction.  I'm currently working on different pieces for a game - system and planet generation, ship maps and designs, crew spacesuits and outfits, and voice generation and lipsync animations.  They're all coming together really well and my team of agents cheerfully builds away.  Occasionally they do silly things like fill up my hard drive with files, but mostly they behave.

I thought I'd share the player ship for the game - the Wayfarer.  It's an armed cargo vessel with some spare rooms the players can use for passengers, more crew, science, or other future endevors.  The exterior fades away to show the interior, which is full of assorted objects from animated crew screens to working doors and lights.  Little details like the exterior ramps are very cool, extending out to the ground when deployed.  Plus the engines look amazing when firing.

I have a few details to tweak, but it's coming along nicely.  The plan is to extend the system to even more ship types, space stations, and planetary structures.  Lots of fun things to explore.

Mocha Friday

September 11, 2026 by Adam in Family

Some weeks feel like months - while this one wasn't quite as eventful, it certainly seemed longer than most.

Work was more exciting than I'd like.  My manager resigned, which creates uncertainty as we figure out next steps.  I really like her, and feel she's done a great job.  While it's sad she's going, I'm happy that she feels secure enough in her life that she can just stop working and figure things out.  I'm also on call this week, meaning various disasters distract me constantly.

I continue to have fun making my sci-fi game, seeing how far I can get AI agents to do work.  The animations for some of my creatures are a little rough and need some polish.  The spacesuits are looking great, though I had to do the backpacks separately.  I've got it designing starships and their interiors, which is turning out way better than I expected.  That too needs work, but my hope is that I can integrate these different systems one of these days.

As for the weekend, I have more house projects to do - painting touch-up, cleaning, things to donate, a little free library door to build.  Hopefully I can sneak in some fun downtime in there too.

Alien Biomes

September 09, 2026 by Adam in Adam's Projects

I wanted to show off some of my alien plants I've been creating.  The ai agents do a good job turning a general suggestion into 2d images and then into 3d models.

Working Vacation

September 08, 2026 by Adam in Family

I was excited to have the extra day off on Monday, which I didn't realize was right around the corner.  The long weekend ended up being a good mix of work and play, though I have to admit I'm a little sore and ready to relax at work again.

I finished playing Plage Tale: Resonance, which was a good time with lots of Indiana Jones style action.  I got inspired to play the one in the series I missed, which isn't quite as good but I think I'll try and stick with it. 

I've also been making my Traveller-inspired game and playing around with the latest AI models.  It's crazy how good it's getting and has been building 3d spaceport models from scratch.  I also have another pipeline that creates and animated space suits.  It's getting to the point where someone with little creative talent can put together some impressive things.  The future is going to be weird.

As for house projects, I finally got the trailer unloaded with the construction debris.  Jo and I went to Jerry's to pick up construction material and a new toilet.  I put up some insulation behind an upstairs access door to the attic to keep the mold down.  We removed the old toilet, cleaned and painted several moldy spots, and put in a new toilet.  It's easy enough to say, but I feel like I had the "toilet-lifting and going up and down three flights of stairs repeatedly to fetch tools and plumbing supplies" workout.

Last night was Delta Green, where the agents get closer to the core of the mystery.  Tonight is D&D, where hopefully we get to the epic conclusion of the campaign.  

Life feels busy, but full of good things.

Mocha Friday

September 04, 2026 by Adam in Family

I'm mostly feeling integrated back into the real world again, though I did wake up before 5 am for some reason.  It also feels like we've returned to Fall weather - it's cool and wet and time for a hot drink around a cozy fire.  

We're starting the long journey to get our house ready for a sale along with getting a new house a little further out from the city.  I'm trying not to get too excited as we're still a long ways off from having our house ready, but it's nice to dream about a new place that suits our needs better.  We managed to come up with a list of realtors to interview, so we're just barely started.

We've been doing more normal things this week.  Tea with mom.  Date night takeout Wednesday night.  TV shows before bed.  I've been back to playing around with my computer when I get a little time.

I finally put Slay the Spire 2 aside to start Plague Tale: Resonance, which is really fun so far - very Raiders of the Lost Ark but set in the 1300s.  I've also been playing with locally generated AI models for a Traveller-inspired game. Some of the alien creatures, plants, and geologic features are stunning and I'm hoping to start putting the pieces together.  Animating the creatures has been tough and I'm learning more than I wanted about how that part works.  

As for the weekend, I don't think there's anything fixed on my agenda other than a very long list of house projects.  I'd love to redo the door to the little free library which is falling apart.  And probably a dump run, which is exactly as thrilling as it sounds.  Hopefully I can play some games in there too.

Farm House Inspection Passed!

September 03, 2026 by Adam in Adam's Projects

The farm house passed inspection today, with Matt from HiLine calling up to give the good news.  It's been a long haul, with lots of bumps in the road, but the end result is a nice big house out in the country, which is pretty cool.  Next step will be to get the rental management company going and hopefully get it rented soon.

Back Home

September 02, 2026 by Adam in Family

We made it home, only slightly worse for wear.  The flights were fine and the drive back from Portland was mostly done by my car, though we were all wiped out when we got home.  I don't think we managed to stay up until 9 pm.

The kitties missed us and it's nice to be back to familiar beds and such.  Our empty fridge is getting refilled today.  A storm door we removed for painting fell over and broke, so I've got some cleanup to do today.  I managed to read the endless emails and team chats at work, and feel slightly caught up again.  Hopefully I feel more normal by tomorrow.

Theoretically the farm house gets inspected today and will likely pass as the previous issues should be fixed.  I think that means we can turn things over to the rental management property soon.  It'll be nice to cross one thing off the endless list.

Last Day

August 31, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's the end of the day in our Honeoye Falls' rooms, the funhouse-style sloped floors making walking around a mix of joy and terror.  I just dropped off Yvonne and said the I-love-yous.  Duncan is getting dropped off in a bit so we can wake up and get on a plane first thing in the morning.  Theoretically we'll be in Portland early afternoon and back home by dinner time.

It's been an exciting few days hanging out with Yvonne.  There was an epic hike through the woods.  Yesterday we went antiquing and then visited a local bookstore run by expats from Hong Kong who escaped the repression.  Today we went go-carting, which is a regular thing Yvonne does with her newfound love of racing.  I got the hang of it after a couple minutes and was zipping around having a good time, though I was only up for a single race.  Later we had lunch in Rochester proper, went to a hippie gift shop, then wandered over to a used book store.  I think it's the fifth on this trip and fortunately we have an empty bookcase for all my treasures.

It's been a great trip, seeing Emma and Yvonne and getting to hang out with them in their new life.  It's also been a treat to get away from all of life's stresses for a few days - reading books and playing games and generally hanging out.  It'll be nice to get back home and our ordinary comforts, though I'm glad we had this adventure.

Rochester

August 29, 2026 by Adam in Family

I'm sitting in a room of our place in Honeoye Falls, just outside of Rochester.  It's a converted grist mill with slightly sloping floors, quirkly knick-knacks everywhere, and the constant sound of the falls outside our window.  I find it charming, though I wouldn't want to live here.

The last few days in Rochester were generally lovely.  Greg showed me his cool MG electric car that's nearly finished.  We played games with the family, visited the cafe and bookstore at the old Montague mill (apparently the Northeast is littered with them), walked along the canal past abandoned industrial buildings, and I drove out with Emma on a flower-related job.  The latter was exciting, getting lost looking for a little flower farm and returning with most of the water sloshing out into the back of her Subaru.  But Sadie was ecstatic to see all the flowers and soon got to working at color-coding them for each of the brides.  I met Emma's boss and her kids, who rang me up at the register in their bakery.

Yesterday was a long drive across the states, stopping for lunch at the Erie Canal.  Jo and I chatted as we drove, discussing various house projects and plans and the state of all the children.  Eventually we made it to Kevin's house and Yvonne ran out to hang out with us for an exciting evening of grocery shopping, pizza, and conversation.  Topics ranged from the state of American healthcare to German Industrial music, and eventually we drove her back home, watched a short show, and collapsed into our extremely soft bed.

As for today, there's been some loose talk about walking between parks.  There's also been suggestions about hitting up some thrift stores.  We'll see where the day brings us.